Time and the Reason for Existence

Aug 02, 2006 10:12


For Everything There Is a Season (Part 1)

For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to harvest that which has been planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

Friendship With God
Neale Donald Walsch
Page 229

This passage from Neale's book Friendship With God is familiar to just about everyone; most people know it as the famous passage from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. Or, some people may be familiar with the song by The Byrds which has been covered by many artists since then (of most recent memory, Dolly Parton on her Those Were The Days album).
The idea that, in the grand scheme of things, everything has a place, time, and purpose is a wonderful affirmation to hold on to when life is known for being so busy, confusing, testing, and sometimes just plain strange. The driving theme of this is that every event, every occurrence in our lives has a meaning and a purpose for being as it is, and for happening when it does.
What goes unstated, however, is that--as every event has a time to occur--every person has a purpose for being here. There is no pointless existence. Unless, however, an individual comes into this existence with the purpose of living a directionless, and uneffective life; which is possible.
For those who have a goal and a clear vision to achieve that goal, it can be easy--indeed, it is tempting--to pass judgement on those with less guidance. The bible says "Judge not lest ye be judged." And the same message is being brought forth today. As a matter of fact, it is another way of phrasing the Golden Rule: don't do something to someone that you wouldn't want done to yourself. Stated another way: Love One Another.
There is no excuse, no rationale, for hating, hurting, or judging our fellow humans for actions they make and things they say. We are all human, and on a soul-level: We Are All One. Transcendentalism's concept of the Oversoul (Ralph Waldo Emerson) and Hinduism's idea of Paramatman, is related to this idea. Everything and everyone is made of the same stuff--God-stuff. Within each of us, and everything around us, there is a core that is of God--that is part of God. It just appears separate.

The Moment of Now
The illusion of separateness applies not just to us, but to time as well. We experience life as Past, Present, and Future; this an illusion that comes with existing here on this planet--it's a fact of life. Like it or not, we have to deal in time. But, because we are more than just creatures of the earth, we--our souls--come from that timeless realm from which God emanates. In reality, there is only one moment, one time; that time is Now.

Time is such a sublime realm, in which what you call past, present, and future exist inter-relationally. That is, they are not opposites, but rather parts of the same whole; progressions of the same idea; cycles of the same energy; aspects of the same immutable Truth. If you conclude from this that past, present, and future exist at one and the same "time," you are right (CWG Book 1, pg. 31).

A popular, semi-underground movie that handles this matter in conjunction with quantum physics is What the Bleep Do We Know? The movie is a series of interviews with scientists, sholars, and spiritual figures who discuss the matter of time and the nature of reality, framed by a storyline that illustrates the various topics discussed.

Why Things Are This Way
I have established Laws in the universe that make it possible for you to have--to create--exactly what you choose. These Laws cannot be violated, nor can they be ignored. You are following these Laws right now, even as you read this. You cannot not follow the Law, for these are the ways things work. You cannot step aside from this; you cannot operate outside of it (CWG Book 1, p. 73).

"Rightness" or "wrongness" is not an intrinsic condition, it is a subjective judgment in a personal value system. By your subjective judgments do you create your Self--by your personal values do yo determine and demonstrate Who You Are.
The world exists exactly as it is so that you may make these judgments. If the world existed in perfect condition, your life process of Self creation would be terminated. It would end. A lawyer's career would end tomorrow were there no more litigation. A doctor's career would end tomorrow were there no more illness. A philosopher's career would end tomorrow were there no more questions (CWG Book 1, p. 48).

My purpose in creating you, My spiritual offspring, was for me to know Myself as God. I have no way to do that save through you. Thus it can be said . . . that My purpose for you is that you should know yourself as Me. . . .
There is only one way I could have caused all of My spiritual children to know themselves as parts of Me--and that was simply to tell them. This I did. But you see, it was not enough for Spirit to simply know Itself as God, or part of God, or children of God, or inheritors of the kingdom (or whatever mythology you want to use).
. . . knowing something, and experiencing it, are two different things. Spirit longed to know Itself experientially (just as I did!). . . . So I devised a plan. . . .
Under the plan, you as pure spirit would enter the physical universe just created. This is because physicality is the only way to know experientially what you know conceptually. It is, in fact, the reason I created the physical cosmos to begin with--and the system of relativity which governs it, and all, creation.
Once in the physical universe, you, My children, could experience what you know of yourself--but first, you had to come to know the opposite. To explain this simplistically, you cannot know yourself as tall unless and until you become aware of short. You cannot experience the part of yourself that you call fat unless you also come to know thin (CWG Book 1, pgs. 26-27).

In Closing: My Story

To close today's post, I want to share a bit of my background with the Conversations with God material. Around the time I was in middle school, I began to enter the first stage of my spiritual quest.
I grew up in a conservative Christian church, so the tenants of Christianity are quite familiar to me. I was baptized, in 1996, I believe. But, I eventually started digging around, doing some soul-searching that would become deeper and deeper over the years.
Needless to say, I eventually concluded that there had to be something else--something out there had to resonate with the convictions I felt--that I knew--to be true.
Somewhere around this time I was at Media Play (now closed) where I was looking for a book to buy. I had grabbed something and was rushing to get checked out as Mom was ready to go. As I was walking, a book cover caught me out of the corner of my eye; it was Conversations with God, Book 1. I bought the book, just to see what it was all about. Suffice it to say that I've been reading the books and thinking about what they say ever since.
I'm convinced that, regardless of the source, Neale's books have an important message to bring. It is a message that, now more than ever, needs to be heard and shared with as many people as possible.

Do not feel abandoned. I am always with you. If you have questions--day-to-day questions--as I know you do even now, and will continue to--know that you can call on Me to answer them. You do not need the form of this book.
This is not the only way I speak to you. Listen to Me in the truth of your soul. Listen to Me in the feelings of your heart. Listen to Me in the quiet of your mind.
Hear Me, everywhere. Whenever you have a question, simply know that I have answered it already. Then open your eyes to your world. My response could be in an article already published. In the sermon already written and about to be delivered. In the movie now being made. In the song just yesterday composed. In the words about to be said by a loved one. In the heart of a new friend about to be made.
My truth is the whisper of the wind, the babble of the brook, the crack of the thunder, the tap of the rain.
It is the feel of the earth, the fragrance of the lily, the warmth of the sun, the pull of the moon.
My Truth--and your surest help in time of need--is as awesome as the night sky, and as simply, incontrovertibly, trustful as a baby's gurgle.
It is as loud as a pounding heartbeat--and as quiet as a breath taken in unity with Me.
I will not leave you, I cannot leave you, for you are My creation and My product, My daughter and My son, My purpose and My. . .
Self.

Call on me, therefore, wherever and whenever you are separate from the peace that I am.

I will be there.

With Truth.

And Light.

And Love.

(CWG Book 1, pgs 210-211)

spirituality

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